Jagged
by rainbowlouise
Summary: The growing hatred between humans and  Anima destroyed lives. It tore families apart, forced children to grow up far quicker than they should've had to. But more than anything, it changed the  Anima. And nothing will ever be the same.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Not sure where this is going. Bear with me. **

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From fear, hate will always be born.

Husky knew enough about hate; he himself was filled with it. But his own hate was not due to fear, but to anger. His hate, the shared hate of all +Anima, was all because of human prejudice.

It all began simply enough – using +Anima as soldiers in the military. At first, many young men were overjoyed at finally finding a place where they had a purpose. Over the next two years, many flyers were thrust in their faces, proclaiming the need for _+Anima soldiers _to be used in the _+Anima movement. _Cooro always looked a little interested, but Nana was quick to grab him by the sleeve and drag him away. She was girly and stupid, but she wasn't dense.

A month after Husky's fifteenth birthday, +Anima were required by law register themselves as +Anima with the government official stationed in their area. A year later, all +Anima with useful abilities – as decided by the Government – were forced to enlist in the Astarian army. No exceptions. Many were outraged – families lost their children at eleven years old, many died in pointless battles because they weren't trained efficiently. For the first time in Astaria, +Anima began to revolt. They didn't like the new laws, and tried to change them.

Protests outside the Astar palace were staged, and many +Anima were shot down when riots broke out. Those that were left fled, and were never heard from again. People stopped registering, despite the money they would've received. Humans were distrustful and fearful of their animalistic brothers and sisters. The country of Astaria, once so different in Sailand in its treatment of +Anima, tried caging the beasts.

At around this time, Husky and Nana decided the four of them couldn't stay with Haden any longer. They simply couldn't risk putting Haden and his wife in danger just for sheltering them. In the dead of night they set off, travelling like they had half a decade ago. Cooro was, of course, sad to leave Haden behind, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Senri was as vague as ever, but willing to go to the ends of the earth to be with his new family.

They had nowhere to go. It took them a few months to fall back into the routine of travel – haggling for food, doing odd jobs here and there. Like all those years ago, no one questioned the three children that came to work and left when all the money had dried up. Senri posed more of a problem.

Although Ki-mun-kur were not required to enlist in the army due to shaky relations between the Ki-mun-kur and Astaria, it was odd to see three normal human children wandering with a Ki-mun-kur. Initially, his clothes and hair gave him away right away, but Nana soon fixed that with a pair of scissors and a bit of material. He flat-out refused to get rid of the tribal beads in his hair, but they managed to get by without attracting much suspicion anyway.

Except for when Cooro forgot they were supposed to be in hiding, and decided to sprout wings and go flying. The new Cooro Punishment Stick got a lot of use in those few precious years they spent out of captivity.

The growing hatred between humans and +Anima destroyed lives. It tore families apart, forced children to grow up far quicker than they should've had to. But more than anything, it changed the +Anima. Once, when the anima was no longer needed, it would disappear. In such a time of war and conflict, the anima refused to leave their human host.

And, more importantly, +Anima that had been taken out of a host by the research facility came back to them.

When Husky was eighteen, the research facility shut down entirely. Anyone found to have anything to do with +Anima was dealt with swiftly and harshly. Astaria was officially at war with the Ki-mun-kur and +Anima. Some humans took up Sailand's practice of using +Anima as slaves, and others soon followed. +Anima were hunted, caged and sold – violently and without remorse.

As awful as it sounds, Husky didn't give a damn about his fellow +Anima. The only ones he cared about were Nana, Cooro and Senri. So long as they were all safe, the rest of the world could burn. Nana took the treatment of +Anima the hardest – she often whispered to him when they lay awake at night that she just wanted to kill all of them for what they were doing. Nana had grown up rather quickly and abruptly, changing her soft personality into something a little more jagged. Husky missed the old Nana, which only reared its head when they were forced to spend the night in the forest, and he was forced to spend the night holding her trembling, whimpering form in his arms.

Cooro forced himself to stay cheerful, but the carefree eleven year old he had once been was lost in a torrent of frustration and pain. He could never hate the humans – they just didn't understand, he said – but he hated the injustice.

It was always hard to tell what Senri made of all of it. He spent his days scribbling in the new journal Husky had bought for him after he finished the one Crystala had given him. Senri was talking a little more, but there were still times where they wondered if he was there at all; not locked away in that broken mind of his.

Together, the four once-young +Anima travelled the country. They never stayed in one place for too long, earning what they could and leaving before anyone really realised they were there at all. But still, Husky knew it was only a matter of time before the authorities caught up with them. All it took was one sighting of their +Anima markings, one slip up, and their world would come crashing down on them like a ton of bricks. Husky managed to calm his nerves by knowing that if they were ever discovered, he still had his plan. And until then, he had them, and that was enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**Thank you to you all. Feel free to PM me if anything gets confusing, I'm exploring the idea of jumping back and forth between the past and present. **

**-Louise**

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_Present day_

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Three days.

That's how long it would take them to reach the next town. Assuming, of course, that they didn't stop to rest or to admire the scenery. Nana was fine with that, so long as it minimised their chances of having to stay the third night.

Even after all these years, she still hated the darkness. It crept over her like an icy blanket, bringing up all those awful, hidden memories. Usually, she clung to Husky for comfort, but she hated feeling like she bothered him when he was trying to sleep.

That night was no different. Nana shivered, partly from the cold and partly because her heart was pounding so hard it was a wonder the others didn't wake up. She whimpered despite herself, shutting her eyes against the onslaught of horrible, horrible images.

_Daddy! No! Don't hurt Momma!_

_**Na-na! **_

"Nana." A gentle voice woke her from her nightmare. Nana looked up, diving into Husky's open arms.

"Will they ever stop?" she asked shakily.

"Mine haven't," Husky whispered back, the same response as always, "now go to bed, you stupid girl." It didn't sound soothing, but somehow it was. The two took a certain comfort in knowing that in that respect, they weren't alone. They lay back, entangled in each other, finally finding warmth.

Husky had changed so much. Although he'd kept his pretty, feminine face, he'd grown into his body. He was taller and not so slim. Cooro had grown as well, vertically and emotionally. Husky always said he'd one day grown out of his stupidity, but Nana disagreed. Cooro was never stupid – he'd just lost a bit of his cheerful optimism in the past few years. He was nearly as tall as Senri was, stronger and better with a hatchet than he was before.

Senri had changed too. He was still as quiet as ever, but his mind wasn't quiet as broken. The stable years he'd had with Nana, Cooro and Husky had – as Nana wanted to believe – healed him a little. And she... Nana had grown up. She still loved pretty things, but started dressing a little more practically when she turned fifteen. She didn't mind quite so much if her clothes were ripped and dirty, because there were worse things that could happen to them.

She stopped worrying about what everyone thought of her, because she _knew _what her boys thought of her. They said she was smart, determined and – God, this one made her blush – _beautiful_. Nana sighed, resting her head against Husky's rhythmically rising and falling chest.

_Nana Alba, you are beautiful._

_I... I thought you hated girls, Husky! _

_Not you. Never you. _

Across the smouldering camp fire, Senri muttered something in his sleep. Nana shivered. Senri was always calmer when Rose was around. Having looked after Pinion her whole life, Rose was used to both childlike forgetfulness and looking after someone who just needed someone to tell them everything would be okay. No matter how many times Senri had protected them, kept them safe from danger; he was still as much a child as they were.

She was away with Pinion, making arrangements for him to stay with a close friend of hers. As much as Rose couldn't bear to part with her little brother, it was worse for him to be travelling with them. Things had simply become too dangerous for +Anima. If anyone were to find out who they were... _what _they were... Well, Rose didn't want Pinion involved in any of that.

They were supposed to be meeting in the next town, but who knows whether Rose would get there when they did? Nana thought it was best for them to wait there for her if she wasn't, but Husky was insisting that it was dangerous for to stay in one place for too long. Surely, he reasoned, Rose would have some common sense and meet them in the next town?

Secretly, Nana thought Husky had grown so used to travelling, to having a plan and being organised that it terrified him to let go of that. But it was crazy to expect Rose to chase them all over Astaria. She'd have to talk to him when they finally reached Lilla.

"You still awake?" Husky whispered, scaring away the quiet.

"Yeah." Nana replied, equally as softly, "You?"

"No, I'm fast asleep."

"Oh. I guess that was a stupid question."

"You think?" He held her tighter, "Stupid girl." But there was a smile in his voice so she smiled too.

"It's Cooro's eighteenth birthday next week. We really should do something." Nana told him.

"I'll buy him a bag of apples and the idiot should be happy with that." Husky replied in a nonchalant way. Nana playfully whacked his arm.

"Husky! It's his _birthday_."

"Nana, Cooro loves apples. What else are we supposed to get him?"

"Something... _nice_. Maybe a new pair of shoes, his old ones are worn out. Something that won't run out within five seconds."

"I know he's an eating machine, but I think it might take him a _little _longer than five seconds to eat a whole bag of apples."

"You know what I mean!"

"Fine, we'll get him some new shoes. Ugh, _girls_."

"You know he'll love them, Husky. And oh, you know... I bet he'd love some new decorative feathers, oh wouldn't that be nice?"

"Go to _sleep_, Nana. It'll be morning before you shut your mouth at this rate."

"You're the one who talked to _me_!"

"Sleep. Now." He brushed a kiss against her forehead and Nana closed her eyes.

"Only if you sleep too," she said, her voice muffled by a yawn. Neither of them believed Husky would actually fall asleep that easily, but Nana knew she'd tried. Even though Husky wasn't physically the strongest, he was definitely the smartest and that kept him awake at night. Nana could only imagine the type of thoughts that ran through his mind. _What will we do if we get caught? What can I do to make sure that doesn't happen? _

She wondered if he thought of her, and then decided he probably did. It wouldn't be fair for her to think of him so much and he not to think of her, after all. They weren't... well they weren't in a relationship; it was hardly the time for that. But sometimes Nana wished they were in a real, proper relationship, where he would buy her gifts and dote on her and she would love him with all her heart.

But for now she'd settle for the feeling of security and warmth he gave her, and for moments like this.


End file.
